My pops was going to tims to grab coffee and an undercover unit was sitting in the lot and was pulling over every vehicle with aftermarket auxillary lights. After getting read the riot act on how he is an unsafe person and could be issued a ticket and have his vehicle impounded... he designed a cover for his lamps that can be remotely actuated and complies with the polices edition of the HTA, which does not state that covers are allowed. It says all aux lighting is illegal and with no mentions of covers are an acceptable work around. It seems that the WPS and the HTA are two different sets of rules. He was running these for 6 years with no issues.

Anywho. we started by making the "paddles"

after bouncing some ideas around we had to do the final hole before we got to test fitting

While he drilled and reamed the last bit, I cut the material for the bearing brackets

Drill + Tap

Wonderful, we were ripping through it and making progress... time2test

I came to the point that, as the paddle arcs along its path, there will not be enough clearance between the ID and the OD of the lamp and they won't work... Time to mill out material to alow a free flowing arc

Did that and cleaned them up. Test fit #2 looked good for the paddles. I also realized that the brackets wouldnt clear the roof enough, I cut more material for spacers. Dad got the Mig out and started welding them up

After everything was tacked and looking good, we hmmm'd and hawww'd about the actuator. How to do the cleanest and simplest install. Another coffee break and we had an idea. A bit more metal fab and welding and it was all mechanically hooked up.

]

The actuator has about 125ft/lbs of torque and can open and close the paddles at highway speeds. If I ever have trouble from those who Enforce and Collecterrr, Serve and Protect, I may have to make a system for the Foz. Hopefully that day doesnt come.

Welp, Ive found out the hard way that you can brick an ECU as seen here

The morning after I screwed the pooch, I had a few calls and emails with Cobb. They were quick to respond and helpful with all resources and chances to fix the ECU without having to send it away. Unfortunately there was no other option but to send it to them.

The Eyesight system in the USDM FXT and US marketed WRX/ WRX STI (Canadian WRX and STI dont have eyesight) is very tempermental to key in and key out sequences. What I believe has happened is this.

Running AP Manager and VMWare with Windows in background, I had gone too update my AP. Upon Firmware Flash and reboot VMWare prompted to connect to windows or mac - ***VMWare has to be off for all AP updates***. Which interrupted AP Managers update sequence. That corrupted the AP Firmware and it has to be removed from the computer and replugged in. AP Manager goes into Recovery mode to reflash the AP's Firmware. When it flashes the firmware it loads the base version. So, instead of auto updating with all the latest and greatest it goes back to v1. Even if you recover and get the AP back and working AND you hit update it will show that there are no updates to be had. AP Manager for some reason doesnt re-check after re-flash. If you go to use the AP to Flash your Map in your Eyesight equipped vehicle, it has a high chance to brick the ECU.

So, I had to strip the AP and the ECU from the foz, luckily the latest gen of cars have the ECU easily accessible in the Engine bay with a 10 mm socket. Two acorn nuts and three wiring harness connections later its out in under 60 seconds. I shipped it off to Cobb in Texas. Canada Post 5 Day Express. Got there in 4, WooHoo!. Arrived on Thursday at noon, Cobb had the ECU all fixed, packaged, and shipped by Friday at Noon. They have sent it with UPS 2 Day, unfortunately its Business Days; its currently in Louisville, Kentucky and scheduled for delivery on Tuesday.

Next Upgrade for the Forester will be summer setup.

Ill be haggling with Kaltire for some tires. We shall see how it goes.

I ordered the new summer setup this weekend. Should be on By April 8th or on Easter weekend. I may have to do some spacers to make it feel a bit more aggressive, although im worried about chipping the fenders/quarter panels from debris

Those are some aggressive tires! Should look good. Nice to see a subaru build that isn't just hella horns and an invidia exhaust

Thanks Colin! This is like no other build locally... if you don't count the Hellas and the Nameless/STi exhaust, haha

Next mini project is redesigning the hatch area. I have to pull the spare tire and dimension the area that I have. I'll be building in a sub box, amp rack, as well as making cargo/tool dividers... there will also be a pull out table and it will all double as a sleeping platform. There's a bit of planning to go as how to make it all work but I'm sure I'll figure it out in a few days.

Thanks Colin! This is like no other build locally... if you don't count the Hellas and the Nameless/STi exhaust, haha

Next mini project is redesigning the hatch area. I have to pull the spare tire and dimension the area that I have. I'll be building in a sub box, amp rack, as well as making cargo/tool dividers... there will also be a pull out table and it will all double as a sleeping platform. There's a bit of planning to go as how to make it all work but I'm sure I'll figure it out in a few days.

Do you have any recommendations on how to waterproof wood by chance?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

use a high ply birch, its lightweight and strong, then use a sealer on it, you can even use it to make your woofer enclosure!

Got the ECU and AP back today. Plugged it in, the car read it and fired right up with a slight hesitation from not being ran in two and a half weeks. I went for a boot around the block so it could do some small adjustments, warm up and give the battery a kick. I verified that everything was fully updated this time and went to marry the AP to the ECU and flash stage 1 OTS.... I hooked it up to a battery charger and fed it on "supply". Went to flash and... Communication Error. @#$&@%#^@&@& the Flash failed and the ECU was bricked again. Ok. atleast I was smart enough to do this at home this time. I attempted the recovery mode.... lo and behold, it recovered! I did some reading and found out that a comm error is common after a bricking or even just not having the key in/out sequence perfect. I unmarried and tried it again. This time it worked and I am now back to Stage 1. WooHoo!

DiscountTire called me. My methods arent in stock with them or Method... at least a 2 month wait. Wonderful... I have changed from the MR501's to the MR502's. The 501's are more of a street style where the 502's are straight up rally and gravel. They will do a better job of hiding the hubs and brakes. Plus, they are offset at +38 instead of +42, so they will poke a bit more

Here they are:

Originally posted by Ctown8

use a high ply birch, its lightweight and strong, then use a sealer on it, you can even use it to make your woofer enclosure!

Nice setup on the wheels and tires. What size rim did you decide to go with? I'm liking the Sparco Terras but can't decide between the 16" or 17". I'd like to go with 17" wheels, but the choices in all terrain tires are limited unless I raise the forester with a kit.

Nice setup on the wheels and tires. What size rim did you decide to go with? I'm liking the Sparco Terras but can't decide between the 16" or 17". I'd like to go with 17" wheels, but the choices in all terrain tires are limited unless I raise the forester with a kit.

17x8 +38

15" and 16" wheels don't clear XT brakes from my knowledge. I think you could go 15" if you had the option. Usually lifting on these vehicles doesn't change the size of tire unless you are going 4" lift or more

Picked up le wheels last night. I actually love them. I wasn't sold on them from internet photos and they were out of the ones that I initially liked and picked so these were the runner ups.

Last Night I sealed them to protect from and tar or contaminants. I may look into doing some Ceramic coating mid summer.

Picked these up from Discount Tire Direct. Best price around. Good service. But **** UPS.

There wasn't a single box that didn't have any damage. 2 wheels had nicks in the inner lip. The one shown is particularly bad. The box is wrecked. Can't trust anyone to do their job with dignity these days.

Tires have arrived in Winnipeg. Will be getting everything mounted and balanced on Monday.

Well, post shift we brought in the vehicles and went to work. Todays project, Swap over summers on the Forester and install Gooseneck Hitch on dads truck (F250 Super Duty). We decided to do the truck first, since it will be the tougher of the two jobs.

Purchased on E-trailer. It was proclaimed a direct bolt on, with no mods... uh huh... sure.

Upon reading these particuler instructions and multiple other goosenecks we amassed a bunch of tricks that were of much use. They were all modifications or extra instructions that werent mentioned...

There were brackets in the way that wernt supposed to be there... according to e-trailers instructions. In short, the two hour install became 4.5 with milling to modify their main brackets due to misplaced holes... oh and lots of zip disks/grinding

By the way, we practice safety. We used 2 straps!!!

And the Final Outcome

The Foz took 30 minutes to swap 4 summers over, install the center caps and do a quick check up. It will need new rotors and pads all around in about 20,000km's which will be the next tire rotation.

Here are the first few photos, everything is dirty, muddy, dusty, and still goopy from the tire install.

The fitment is "flush". There is no poke and no sunkeness... Maybe a 10mm spacer ould make it look meaty-er.

Tomorrow I'll be swapping the roof basket tire, as well as we are installing an Airbag Leveling Kit on the rear of the truck for hauling. I think its an extra 5000lb capacity. #bagged

This week we bagged Dads F250. It now has an extra hauling capacity of 5000lbs. Installation of the brackets while following the instructions was ****ty, doing it our way required a bit of zip disking but it was flawless and fast.

I have a few free hours this week and decided to start the hatch project. My jigsaw and straight-edge-clamp-a-ma-jig is at work... no cuts tonight -